


As I Listen To Your Laments

by extremelyperturbed



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-25
Updated: 2014-05-25
Packaged: 2018-01-26 11:57:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1687472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extremelyperturbed/pseuds/extremelyperturbed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bedelia travels with Hannibal through Europe.  Bedelia notices Hannibal is not as jaunty as she thought he'd be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	As I Listen To Your Laments

It could’ve been worse, Bedelia thought as she drank a glass of Chianti outside the villa under the shade of an umbrella Hannibal had set up for her. Even going on the lam, Hannibal always insisted on going in style with good food, fine wine and tasteful accommodations.

They were currently going under the names of Mr. and Mrs. Fell under the pretense of a honeymoon that had been delayed by career considerations. If they were not as overly affectionate as honeymooners were, it could be chalked up to their maturity. Hannibal took more delight in the deception than she did, showing her the many sights of Florence. If she only knew her former patient as a tour guide, she would’ve given him a very generous tip.

He had asked her why she did not run away a second time. She pointed out that the FBI couldn’t even protect their own people so she had even less faith that they could protect her. Also, she told him that “He who rides a tiger is afraid to dismount.” She had no appetite for living in dread, waiting for the knife to fall. And there was a part of her who wanted to see what happened when someone like him had their person suit stripped from him as Will had done to him. He had nobody else to talk to now and now that she knew his basest secrets, he could be more honest.

Occasionally, he went out at night. She never asked where he had been. There was an unspoken understanding.

She noticed, however, that despite escaping successfully, Hannibal did not appear as triumphant and joyful as she had expected. She had expected a little gloating at hearing that Jack had been put on administrative leave from his position at the FBI and that Will Graham was still in the hospital from his stab wound.

“Is there something on your mind?” said Hannibal as they had dessert. It was a chocolate raspberry mouse, a dark sweetness studded with red seeds of the pulverized fruit.

“I was just thinking that you did not appear to be as happy as I thought you would be.”

“Oh?”

“I know that I was not your first choice of travel companion.”

“And I know that I was not yours. Nevertheless, here we are, enjoying the Italian countryside.”

“I’m imagining what is happening stateside. Your former social circle must be hysterical.”

“Yes,” said Hannibal. “I find that rather amusing.”

“I assumed you would.” Word had just gotten out about suspicions that he shared his bounty through his dinner parties. 

***  
Occasionally, she would catch him looking at a dark-haired man with scruff walk by in the distance then seeing the inevitable disappointment. 

“Hannibal?” she said over a light breakfast. She preferred a breakfast of coffee with a roll while Hannibal continued to feast on heavier things like a slice of ham with a side of potatoes or a smoked salmon scramble. 

“Yes, Bedelia.”

Starting a conversation with Hannibal was a little like awakening a grizzly from hibernation. One may literally have one‘s head bitten off. “Sometimes, I see you looking at someone as if you recognized them, then being disappointed that they’re not who you thought they were.”

“One must always be careful. I have many enemies. Besides the FBI, I know that Mason Verger would love to feed me to his pigs though currently his sister is managing the company and its finances on his behalf. There will be an attempt to tie as many unsolved mysteries to me as possible.” 

“Are you interested in a confrontation? Is not being a fugitive exciting enough for you?” Bedelia suspected Hannibal of being an adrenaline junkie, needing to walk the line to keep from being bored. 

“I am always ready for a fight. I have no intention of ever being caged.”

“Even if you have no problem caging others.” She was cautious but she hated being cowed.

***  
A few months later, they had settled into a small house outside the city. While Hannibal did his laps in the swimming pool, she stayed under the shade of an umbrella, using a laptop to surf the net. 

He knew that she wouldn’t be e-mailing anybody for help. Her circle of friends withered once she went into self-imposed exile after the incident that made her retire and what few family members she had weren’t very close. She didn’t believe in the ability of the FBI to protect her even as she stood in its offices; she was certainly not going to believe in the ability of any foreign country’s equivalent of that agency. 

She skimmed through the news before finally turning to Tattlecrime.com. While she found the reporting there gross and tawdry, it sometimes did have things worthy of note. She raised an eyebrow when she saw that Freddie Lounds had written about Will Graham. 

“Anything interesting?”

Bedelia raised her head and saw that Hannibal had gotten out of the pool and was looking over her shoulder at the website. “Oh, just the usual squabbles between the European Union and the Prime Minister,” said Bedelia. “Also, Freddie Lounds wrote another article.” She noticed a slight pout of disgust on his face at hearing that name.

“What did she write now?”

“Kade Purnell has completely cut all ties Will had to the FBI. He‘s not teaching or consulting anymore. He‘s released a statement that he plans to go into early retirement,” Bedelia noticed a brief look of puzzlement on his face.

“It’s a trick,” said Hannibal.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it? Freddie was in on the scheme to capture me. Will is using her to send a false impression that he is not interested in pursuing me and bringing me to justice.”

“Jack’s superior doesn’t seem to be as interested in pursuing you as Jack was.”

“Whether or not he is on the FBI payroll, he can easily tap various sources for the kind of resources necessary to give chase. We may be seeing him again.”

Bedelia noticed that he had a smile on his face.

“We should not make it easy for him. How does Madrid sound?”

***

Months passed. There had been some close calls. A private investigator had come sniffing around only to be buried in the woods. A mercenary hired by Mason behind his sister‘s back was summarily dispatched and turned into a roast. 

Yet, the joy of the hunt and traveling Europe did little to lift Hannibal’s spirits. Sometimes, she saw him looking around and knew what he was looking for.

In the hotel room, they sat like they did before when he visited her for sessions at her home. She sat in one chair and he in the other. “I wait and I wait and yet he does not come,” he said.

“Perhaps if you had not killed Abigail, he would have. I remember you told me what he told Margot Verger. Perhaps he means to rebuke you by surviving and living without you.”

“I would think his sense of justice would compel him to come after me.”

“His sense of justice has given him nothing. He nearly lost his mind and freedom, lost Abigail, lost his job and he nearly lost his life He sacrificed everything for it and only suffered loss. His friend Jack Crawford has gained nothing for his years of obsession. Perhaps Will has acquired wisdom.”

“And what is that wisdom?”

“That he should lick his wounds and consider himself lucky to have survived you. That to see you again would only entail more loss. I believe that you should do as he has done and let go. I did warn you to stop doing what you were doing to Will. If you had heeded my advice, you would not have to flee to Europe. Your person suit would've remained flawless.”

Hannibal looked at her. “I could not resist. I took a chance and it did not work out as I hoped. I do not mind leaving America or my practice. I only wish . . .”

“You only wish that you were speaking with Will Graham right here and now. Tell me, Hannibal, what is lacking about my presence? I hope it’s not intelligence.”

“No, you are one of the smartest women I have ever known.”

“I am told I’m attractive though I know that one can only do so much against the march of time.”

“You are as lovely as ever.”

“I know you as well as a person without Will’s abilities can know you.”

“True.”

Bedelia sighed. “It is because I am not your Helen of Troy and you are not Paris.” Despite their pretense of being married, he had not tried to force himself on her nor expressed that sort of interest in her. 

“That is also true.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I do think he had genuine feelings for you.”

“Just not deep enough that he would put me before all others as I was willing to do for him.”

“There are people who would gladly go killing with you, even willingly eat the products of your hunts. You once told me about an offer of friendship by Tobias. Why didn’t you take it?”

“I . . . I felt nothing for him. I thought he was too rash, too compulsive. And . . .”

“You were already obsessed with Will Graham’s potential.”

“Yes.”

“You are still obsessed with him.”

Silence.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Wine?” She held up a bottle of Pinot Grigio.

“Yes.”

The End


End file.
